Saint-Laurent nuclear power plant
Saint-Laurent nuclear power plant is a nuclear power station in France with 2 operating units totalling 1,912 MW gross. The site has 4 units on record in total.
Units
| Unit | Status | Type | Model | Gross MW | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit B-1 | PWR | CP2 | 956 | 1983 | |
| Unit B-2 | PWR | CP2 | 956 | 1983 | |
| Unit A-1 | Retired | GCR | Uranium Naturel Graphite Gaz | 500 | 1969 |
| Unit A-2 | Retired | GCR | Uranium Naturel Graphite Gaz | 530 | 1971 |
Unit by unit
Each unit's rating, type and milestone dates as recorded by the Global Nuclear Power Tracker, with any correction we made to it. A dash or "not disclosed" means the source does not give the value.
Saint-Laurent nuclear power plant B-1
| Reactor type | Pressurised water reactor (PWR) |
|---|---|
| Model | CP2 |
| Size class | Large |
| Gross capacity | 956MW |
| Net capacity | 915MW |
| Thermal output | 2,785MWt |
| Enrichment | 3–5% U-235 |
| NSSS vendor | Framatome |
| Owner | Electricité de France SA100% |
| Operator | Electricité de France |
| Construction start | 1 May 1976 |
|---|---|
| First criticality | 4 Jan 1981 |
| Grid connection | 21 Jan 1981 |
| Commercial operation | 1 Aug 1983 |
Live status, outage record and fuel chain for Saint-Laurent nuclear power plant B-1
Saint-Laurent nuclear power plant B-2
| Reactor type | Pressurised water reactor (PWR) |
|---|---|
| Model | CP2 |
| Size class | Large |
| Gross capacity | 956MW |
| Net capacity | 915MW |
| Thermal output | 2,785MWt |
| Enrichment | 3–5% U-235 |
| NSSS vendor | Framatome |
| Owner | Electricité de France SA100% |
| Operator | Electricité de France |
| Construction start | 1 Jul 1976 |
|---|---|
| First criticality | 12 May 1981 |
| Grid connection | 1 Jun 1981 |
| Commercial operation | 1 Aug 1983 |
Live status, outage record and fuel chain for Saint-Laurent nuclear power plant B-2
Saint-Laurent nuclear power plant A-1 Retired
| Reactor type | Gas-cooled reactor (GCR) |
|---|---|
| Model | Uranium Naturel Graphite Gaz |
| Size class | Large |
| Gross capacity | 500MW |
| Net capacity | 390MW |
| Thermal output | 1,650MWt |
| Enrichment | Natural uranium to 2.5–3.5% U-235no enrichment required |
| NSSS vendor | not on record |
| Owner | Electricité de France SA100% |
| Operator | Electricité de France |
| Construction start | 1 Oct 1963 |
|---|---|
| First criticality | 7 Jan 1969 |
| Grid connection | 14 Mar 1969 |
| Commercial operation | 1 Jun 1969 |
| Permanent shutdown | 18 Apr 1990 |
Accident on record: Saint-Laurent A1 fuel melt, 1969-10-17, INES level 4, accident with local consequences.
Saint-Laurent nuclear power plant A-2 Retired
| Reactor type | Gas-cooled reactor (GCR) |
|---|---|
| Model | Uranium Naturel Graphite Gaz |
| Size class | Large |
| Gross capacity | 530MW |
| Net capacity | 465MW |
| Thermal output | 1,475MWt |
| Enrichment | Natural uranium to 2.5–3.5% U-235no enrichment required |
| NSSS vendor | not on record |
| Owner | Electricité de France SA100% |
| Operator | Electricité de France |
| Construction start | 1 Jan 1966 |
|---|---|
| First criticality | 4 Jul 1971 |
| Grid connection | 9 Aug 1971 |
| Commercial operation | 1 Nov 1971 |
| Permanent shutdown | 27 May 1992 |
Accident on record: Saint-Laurent A2 fuel melt, 1980-03-13, INES level 4, accident with local consequences.
Saint-Laurent nuclear power plant in context
By gross operating capacity Saint-Laurent nuclear power plant is the 18th largest of 18 operating nuclear sites in France, holding 3% of the country's operating capacity, and ranks 98th of 172 worldwide.
Its operating units started up in 1983; the median unit is 43.0 years old, older than the median of 41.0 in France.
The 4 units with both construction and grid dates on record took 4.7 to 5.6 years (median 5.2) from construction start to grid connection; the median across all reactors connected in the 1980s is 7.3 years.
The nearest other tracked nuclear sites are Dampierre nuclear power plant (70 km), Belleville nuclear power plant (100 km) and Chinon nuclear power plant (120 km).
The current net rating of Unit B-2 differs from its design net capacity by +4.0% (880 MW at design, 915 MW now).
Build time by unit
| Unit | Construction start | Grid connection | Years | Fleet median, same decade |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit A-1 | 1963 | 1969 | 5.5 | 5.0 (1960s) |
| Unit A-2 | 1966 | 1971 | 5.6 | 5.4 (1970s) |
| Unit B-1 | 1976 | 1981 | 4.7 | 7.3 (1980s) |
| Unit B-2 | 1976 | 1981 | 4.9 | 7.3 (1980s) |
Nearest tracked nuclear sites
| Site | Country | Distance | Operating GW gross |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dampierre nuclear power plant | France | 70 km | 3.7 |
| Belleville nuclear power plant | France | 100 km | 2.7 |
| Chinon nuclear power plant | France | 120 km | 3.8 |
How these are worked out: ranks use gross operating capacity; ages count from the start-up year on record, as on the age page; build times run from construction start to grid connection, as on the build-times page; ratings are the tracker's net and design net capacity, as on the uprates page. Distances are straight-line between exact positions, so a site with only an approximate position gets none. A unit missing a date or a rating is left out of the figure that needs it.
Earthquakes nearby
Loading the latest USGS check…
| Time (UTC) | Mag | Depth | Epicentre | Distance |
|---|
Magnitude 4.0 and above within 200 km of Saint-Laurent nuclear power plant's listed coordinates, past 30 days. This is distance, not shaking: it says nothing about damage or any change in operation. Every plant.
| Location | Centre-Val de Loire, France |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 47.7197, 1.5783 |
| Elevation | about 95 mabove sea level |
| Setting | About 210 km from the sea |
| Region | Western Europe |
| Units by status | Operating: 2 Retired: 2 |
Elevation is read at the listed coordinates from a 30 m terrain model (SRTM 30 m). Two independent models differ by a median of 6 m across our plants and by up to about 40 m on steep or coastal ground, and a point on a shoreline can read as sea level. Distance to the water is measured to a generalised 1:10 million coastline, so a few kilometres or less is not resolved. This is context, not a design-basis or flood-risk figure.
| Owners | Electricité de France SA |
|---|---|
| Operators | Electricité de France |
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Sources
- Global Nuclear Power Tracker, Global Energy Monitor, August 2026 release , CC BY 4.0 · retrieved 2026-09-06
- GEM.wiki entry (further reading) , CC BY-SA 4.0, linked, not quoted
How these sources are used, including the corrections applied on top of them and what is deliberately left blank · download the underlying data